Expect to see empty shelves at Walmart soon; the company’s CEO just confirmed that supply chains have not kept up with the demand for items like paper goods and cleaning supplies in the latest wave of COVID-19 cases, despite learning a hard lesson about shortages earlier this year in March. This doesn’t bode well for the holiday shopping season!
Shoppers are loading up on toilet paper and Clorox once again as the U.S. endures a deadly surge of novel coronavirus cases. Walmart officials confirmed on an earnings call this week that it’s been harder to keep items in stock than expected–especially in locations where cases have spiked sharply (duh). Customers are taking to Twitter and other social media platforms to express their frustration with the situation. Here’s everything you need to know:
Women Are Swapping Their Boring Water For This Ice Pop Electrolyte Mix!
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"We do see big differences, depending on the communities that you're in," US CEO John Furner said on call with analysts on Tuesday, November 17th after the company released its Q3 quarterly earnings.
"The specific categories where we have the most strain at the present time would be bath tissue and cleaning supplies." Say it ain't so!
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CEO Doug McMillon called it "disappointing" to see "as many out-of-stocks as we have in consumables right now generally."
McMillon isn't the only one who's disappointed by the news. Shoppers reacted on Twitter...
"I thought we went over this already." wrote one user. "Time to raid!" suggested another.
Walmart is the country's largest retailer, and McMillon asserted that they were better prepared to handle the demand that the first time around.
"It feels to me like we'll work through this period of time better than we did in the first wave," he said.
READ MORE: Walmart Just Announced Supply Shortages For The Holidays--Shoppers Are Freaking Out!
These supply chain shortages don't necessarily mean that there will be a countrywide policy on purchase limits--but store managers do have the authority to implement limits on their own, spokesperson Delia Garcia told CNN via email.
They can "implement item limits based on their specific store experience to help sustain product availability."
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If you recall, last week the company started counting the number of customers in store, and also extended it's store hours to pre-COVID times.
